Shooting of gang leader's wife prompts concerns about retaliation

When an alleged gang member or a member of his or her family is shot, it’s almost guaranteed there’s going to be some form of retaliation coming and it’s going to be violent. As reports have emerged that one of the victims in Monday’s shooting on East State and Olden Avenue is the wife of Crips gang leader Paul “P-Funk” Jiles, the city and its police department are preparing what could be another round of shootings.

“It’s a no-brainer, they’re going to do something,” community activist Darren “Freedom” Green said of Jiles and his fellow gang members.

On Monday, Jiles and his 33-year-old wife were sitting in car parked outside a local liquor store around 9:20 p.m. when three masked men opened fire on the vehicle, striking the woman in the head and leaving another women making a turn at the intersection with a gunshot wound to the shoulder. Jiles drove his wife to the St. Francis Medical Center, where he apparently said “I’m going to jail for this,” referencing retaliation, sources told the Trentonian.

Jiles had previously been the target of another gang-related shooting. In 2005, Leroy Tutt shot at Jiles and struck a bystander in the chest. In March of this year, Tutt was sentenced to seven years in prison for the shooting.

In 2006, Jiles had a five-hour standoff with the Bucks County SWAT Team after he had barricaded himself in a Bristol Pa. hotel. At the time, he was wanted a warrant for gun possession and was considered a suspect in multiple shootings, Bristol police said at the time. He served five years in prison on gun charges only to be arrested again in 2011 for possession of a weapon. Jiles’ trial for those charges begins in May.

“He’s a bad dude, both the Bloods and other Crips fear him,” a police source said. “He may be only 5’2 or 5’3, but he’s vicious and extremely violent.”

According to police sources, Jiles and his crew control the areas of Cleveland Avenue, Ardmore Avenue and Garfield Avenue, but is also believed to be have other territory elsewhere in the city. Jiles’ crew, is in a feud with Bloods and Crips off Walnut Avenue, which has become further agitated by Monday’s shooting.

“They never stop disliking each other,” Green said. “It’s an on-going cyclical thing, it never stops.”

According to Green, the cycle of retaliatory gang violence goes back for years and has been the motive for several homicides, with some recent examples including shooting deaths of Marcus Hunter, 16, on Feb. 11 and Joshua Moore, 17, in December of last year. Keith Williams, 23, who is currently is on trial for the 2008 murder of Arrell Bell, is also considered part of that cycle, Green said.

The Wilbur section of the city has been receiving extra attention from police since Monday’s shooting, Lt. Mark Kieffer said on Wednesday.

“We have increased patrols in case there is retaliation,” Kieffer said. “If a gang member commits a crime, they’re getting arrested.”

In addition to a response from local law enforcement, the New Jersey State Police has had the Crime Suppression Unit North operating alongside the TPD in northwest Trenton, making a handful of gun and drug arrests in mid-to-late April. Officials from the state police declined to comment on the unit’s activities in the wake of Monday’s shooting.